by Shannon Appelcline
Archive of TT&T Archives
FADE IN: NARRATOR (V.O.) Last time, on "Why Marrach Isn't the Movies." EXT. CASTLE MARRACH - DAY SHANNON (smiling broadly) I want to talk about how Marrach isn't the movies ... about the differences between the two mediums ... EXT. CASTLE MARRACH - DAY PIMPLY LAD A sword! I want a sword! Where can I get a sword? INT. DINING HALL EAST - DAY SHANNON (looking up from his notebook) Movies are primarily a visual medium. INT. DINING HALL EAST - A FEW MONTHS AGO OMMALE Would such beauty exist if there was no one to see it? INT. THE SKOTOS OFFICE - DAY SHANNON Next ... I want to talk about those other two topics ... how movies are discontinuous and how they're contained. EXT. CASTLE MARRACH - NIGHT Castle Marrach explodes. SCREAMS and SHOUTS arise from the crowd of Castle Dwellers, which begins to huddle together. One BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA's voice can be heard above the DIN. BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA My gowns! My chemises! My beautiful snoods! FADE TO: INT. THE SKOTOS OFFICE - NIGHT Shannon's desk is piled even higher with papers, carbon copies, and triplicate forms than before. The paperwork looms in a vaguely ominous manner. Behind the desk is a whiteboard which is now covered with gibberish in six distinct primary colors. Above them all, in black is, scrawled the phrase "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn ... for now!" Whatever that means. SHANNON is slumped most unergonomically in an ergonomic office chair. He is in his late 20s, sloppily dressed, and looking quite tired. SUPERIMPOSE: MAY 31, 2001. SHANNON The Castle is fine folks. That was just a hook to grab your attention. (pauses) I can't speak for the snoods however. Shannon sort of rolls out of his chair, then gets to his feet, stretching as he does. Glancing at his whiteboard, he frowns. SHANNON (looking at the whiteboard) I'm not sure what that means. Shannon shrugs then erases the whiteboard and writes in big letters "Why Marrach Isn't the Movies (Part Two)" SHANNON I appreciate your patience folks. It's been a busy few weeks. But, I'm finally ready to continue with my topic of late April ... how Marrach isn't the Movies. (pauses) I've got two more thing to cover and I want to jump straight into them: how movies are discontinuous and how movies are contained. (pauses) And I'm afraid I've come to the conclusion that I'm only going to get to the question of discontinuities today ... so containment will have to wait Shannon SNAPs his fingers and a movie screen descends from the ceiling, eclipsing the white board and the words written there. SUPERIMPOSE: PART II: MOVIES ARE A DISCONTINUOUS MEDIUM. SHANNON So, discontinuous, what does that mean? (pauses) Mainly it means that movies jump around without showing you what goes on between. You don't have to go on long car trips with movies characters, unless that's the point of the movie. You don't even have to walk with them from room to room. (pauses) Movies jump about chronologically and geographically in order to give maximum impact to their stories. (pauses) On the other hand in Castle Marrach you have to trudge all about the Castle and you have to wait for days or weeks for plots to reach conclusion. Shannon points at the movie screen and numbers begin to pop up on the screen: "9", 8", "7" ... SHANNON To try and demonstrate this a little better, I've strung together a few scenes from the Castle. They show what life would be like if Marrach were a movie. The number count on the screen continues: "2", 1". Then the screen goes black. FADE TO: INT. THE LECTURE ROOM - A WHILE AGO A crowd of people are milling about a room filled with chairs. A DARK-HAIRED WOMAN is speaking from a lectern at the front of the room, but no one seems to be paying her much attention. Suddenly VICTOR bursts into the room. He's unshaven and scarred, and thus clearly must be a bad guy. VICTOR The Queen sucks! Members of the milling crowd glance fearfully at each other. VICTOR And you're all Nancy Boys! MARTINI, a muscular, dark-haired man steps forth from the crowd. MARTINI Uh, I don't think I am. VICTOR (cackling gleefully) Then it shall be ... (he pulls out his sword) ... a duel! A grimace, or perhaps a shadow of fear, crosses Martini's face. INT. PRACTICE ROOM - A WHILE AGO Martini is beating a practice dummy with his sword. MARTINI Must ... duel ... better ... EXT. OUTER COURTYARD - A WHILE AGO Martini is jogging in place. MARTINI Must ... build ... endurance ... INT. PRACTICE ROOM - A WHILE AGO Martini is beating that dummy again; it's not clear who's getting the better of it. MARTINI Must ... kill ... dummy ... EXT. GATE COURTYARD - A WHILE AGO Martini is doing push-ups on the cold, stone cobbles. MARTINI Must ... ask Ermingarde ... for mittens ... INT. PRACTICE ROOM - A WHILE AGO The practice room is now filled with the thronging hoards of the Outer Bailey. They are whispering, joking, and pointing, much to the distress of SIR LAUNFAL, the uptight chamberlain, who is trying to keep everyone in line. SIR LAUNFAL It is clearly stated in the Queen's Capitulary that fidgeting during a sanctioned duel can be punishable by three days in the stockade or ... No one's listening to him, and very soon his voice is lost amidst the RUMBLING OF THE CROWD. In the center of the room stand Martini and Victor. Martini has a proper dueling blade, engraved with a quill. Victor has a huge two-handed blade covered with rust ... or perhaps dried blood. Victor licks his two-handed sword just to be gross. A SNIDE WOMAN in the crowd comments to HER FRIEND. SNIDE WOMAN He's compensating ... Suddenly Victor lunges at Martini who just barely gets his sword up in time. The duel has begun! SIR LAUNFAL Ah ... Ah ... You may begin! Swords clang! Victor has the upper hand! Then Martini! Then Victor! Then Martini again! This is very exciting! MARTINI (softly) You shouldn't have brought my mother into this ... Victor looks worried. He's losing! How could he have said anything about Martini's mother? No one fights better than a cornered son! Then, Victor has a sudden inspiration. He kicks Martini in the ribs! MARTINI Agh! Victor seizes the moment and stabs Martini through the right arm! Martini falls to the ground! VICTOR (hopping up and down) Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Victor goes dancing out the door, waving his sword over his head. MARTINI (sobbing silently) I am shamed ... EXT. THE STAIRS IN THE GATE COURTYARD - A WHILE AGO Victor is dancing down the stairs, still waving his sword. VICTOR (shouting) Me! Me! Me! INT. THE PRACTICE ROOM - A WHILE AGO Martini has collapsed to the ground now, his sword fallen to the side. MARTINI (still sobbing) Shamed ... INT. THE DINING HALL - A WHILE AGO Victor now sits at the round table in the dining hall. He raises a mug of beer above his head. VICTOR (loudly) To me. His words ECHO LOUDLY. He lifts the mug to his lips and drinks the beer down. The mug disappears in a puff of white smoke. Victor looks at his hand, and then about the empty room, sadness on his face. INT. THE PRACTICE ROOM - A WHILE AGO The crowd has thronged around Martini. They are patting him on the back, touching him on the shoulder, or just giving him the thumbs up sign. SNIDE WOMAN (running her hands through Martini's hair) You won today just by fighting, Marty ... Martini looks up at Snide Woman and smiles. FADE TO: INT. THE SKOTOS OFFICE - NIGHT A bright light now shows on the movie screen until Shannon wiggles his nose, making the light go out. SHANNON Whoa .... sorry about that folks. That last line was worthy of Titanic. Shannon shakes his head, then quickly gestures toward the ceiling with his right index finger. The movie screen goes flying up into the ceiling. SHANNON In any case, I hope my movie helped to demonstrate how a discontinuous movie can be very different thing from the continuous experience of Castle Marrach. (pauses) I used the discontinuities in my mini-movie to do a number of things. (pauses) First, I jumped in when things got interesting. (pauses) Second, I skipped over boring details like asking Launfal for permission to duel. (pauses) Third, I increased the impact of the plot by placing it all at the same moment in time ... without breaking it up with lots of irrelevent stuff. Shannon glances up at the whiteboard, almost empty now, and realizes that it doesn't offer any help. SHANNON In Castle Marrach, a similar plot took a few weeks to execute. Though it was a lot of fun I'd like to think that my tight shooting offered more emotional impact. (pauses) But this doesn't help you a lot when you're considering plots for Castle Marrach because the game is by nature continuous. So, how can we learn from movies here? Shannon strides up to the white board and erases it again. SHANNON It won't surprise you to hear I have a few suggestions. Shannon writes "Movies are discontinuous." SHANNON And it's my belief that introducing some discontinuities into Castle Marrach can improve your plots. Shannon writes "1. Don't be afraid to start en media res. SHANNON We creative people come up with strange foreign words to hide the secrets of our craft. I'm probably violating my Masonic oath here when I tell you that en media res means "in the middle of things", more or less. (pauses) The point is that you can start a plot without what went before actually happening. You just need to introduce the backstory via other methods. Abruptly the white board is filled with images as a new movie starts up. Shannon frowns a bit and looks up at the movie screen which is now hidden up in the ceiling. Finally he shrugs his shoulders and concentrates on the movie. FADE TO: INT. A MOVIE SET PORTRAYING THE PRACTICE ROOM - DAY The room is filled with people sparring and people watching people sparring. VICTOR stands off to the side, heckling duelists. VICTOR You're holding that blade like a wet noodle! (pauses) You're not guarding your right side! (pauses) Your momma dresses you funny! Suddenly, a BIG MAN bursts into the room. He's big! He's muscular! He's the spitting image of Victor except he doesn't spit. He clean shaven and unscarred too, proving that he must be an OK-guy. He doesn't even sneer! BIG MAN You won't get away with this Victor! I know you poisoned my love, Beatrice, because she fell for me, your twin brother, Victee, rather than you. (pauses) I know you stole her precious Sapphire of the Fallen Snow and hid it away somewhere in the Castle. (pauses) I know that a servant witnessed your evil deed and I shall find who they are. (pauses) Who shall join me? A loud cheer goes up, and many members of the crowd throng around VICTEE (BIG MAN). Victor looks non-plussed, like this happens every day. FADE TO: THE SKOTOS OFFICE - NIGHT Though a light is still shining on the whiteboard, the writing on the board is visible once more. SHANNON Right into the middle of the action. That's the way to go, and the first way to make discontinuities your friend. Shannon writes on the whiteboard "2. Don't be afraid to introduce discontinuities into the middle of the story." SHANNON This is pretty much the same idea, so I'm not going to try and work up a clever clip. (pauses) If you're running a plot just remember ... if there's going to be anything somewhat boring you can just pretend it happened, and report out in whatever way is appropriate ... just like you'd report backstory. Shannon writes "3. Don't be bound by quaint notions of time and space." SHANNON This last one is tricky because you can really blow every one's suspension of disbelief if you're not careful. But, remember, you're gaming in a virtual world, and thus you're not bound by the rules that you'd be bound by in physical reality. (pauses) You really want to keep your plots as tight as possible ... mainly meaning tight in time. And you can do some stuff to help that out. (pauses) You can quickly pop from location to location to conduct different scenes. (pauses) You can ignore your characters' other concerns for a short time to concentrate on your core plot. (pauses) And, you can allow those off-screen discontinuities to occur very quickly. Shannon glances back at the whiteboard which is growing dark once again as new images appear there. FADE TO: INT. A MOVIE SET PORTRAYING LAUNFAL'S OFFICE - DAY Bookcases adorn the walls of Sir Launfal's office and it's obvious that everything is in perfect order. All of the books are organized by color, then by ascending height. Launfal's desk is equally neat. A pile of a dozen inboxes are each partially filled with neat stacks of paper. The actual surface of Launfal's desk is remarkably empty. Sir Launfal sits behind his desk, his posture perfect. A BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA stands opposite Sir Launfal. She is not wearing a snood. A COURIER leans against the doorway to the office. SIR LAUNFAL These allegations you bring against Mark are most serious. I will investigate them. Sir Launfal motions to the Courier who goes running out of the room. SIR LAUNFAL Is there anything else I may do for you, Sera? BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA Yes, I was wondering if I might get ... SIR LAUNFAL No swords! I have no swords! You may not get a sword! BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA (gasping) A snood! I just wanted a snood! She begins to cry. Sir Launfal looks around to see if there's anyone to help. There isn't. He brightens up when ... The Courier runs back into the room. The Courier whispers something in Launfal's ear. He brightens up even more. SIR LAUNFAL Good news, Sera. Her cries come to a gasping halt. She looks up at Sir Launfal. SIR LAUNFAL It appears that you are quite right, and that Mark is not romancing just one, but several other women currently. The Beautifully Dressed Sera begins sobbing uncontrollably again. The Courier shrugs his shoulders, then runs out the door. Sir Launfal looks uncomfortable for a moment, then tries to look busy by starting to rearrange his books. FADE TO: THE SKOTOS OFFICE - DAY Shannon SNAPS his fingers one more time to turn off the light projecting onto the whiteboard. SHANNON There you go. A slightly unrealistic crunching of time lends impact to the scene without necessarily destroying suspension of disbelief. (pauses) Just use it with care. Shannon paces back and forth for a few seconds, looking ominously at the piles of paper on his desk. SHANNON And that's it for me this week folks. Sometime soon I'll finish this off by talking about how movies are self-contained. It's kind of a mirror-image to this episode because it also talks about how text games can be improved by making them less like real life. (pauses) And just to tantalize you, let me offer the following preview: one of our actors from this week tries to jump off the parapet. Shannon waggles his eyebrows. SHANNON See you then! FADE TO: EXT. A SNOWY PARAPET - NIGHT A shadowy figure stands on the parapet, leaning out into the wind. SUPERIMPOSE: WILL IT BE ... The figure's face is revealed as Martini's. SUPERIMPOSE: MARTINI? MARTINI (sobbing) My shame is as deep as this ravine. Martini FADES OUT to be replaced by a much more shapely figure who is revealed to be the Beautifully Dressed Sera. She too is leaning dangerously into the wind. SUPERIMPOSE: THE BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA? BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED SERA (sobbing) I can not go on without my snoods! The Beautifully Dressed Sera FADES OUT to be replaced by a large, unwieldly figure. He too is leaning out into the wind. It's Victor! SUPERIMPOSE: OR VICTOR? VICTOR (belching) I think I dropped my beer! Victor begins to flail his arms and fall forward, then the screen FADES TO BLACK. END
